The demand won`t go over easy with consumers because prices ``are about 10 cents higher than normal,`` said Steve Ande, of Southern International Egg and Poultry in West Palm Beach.

The eggs end up in Easter baskets and on the traditional Passover Seder plate.

For the eight-day celebration of Passover, observed with a ceremonial dinner on Friday and Saturday, a roasted egg is one of the symbolic foods placed on the Seder plate. The holiday celebrates the flight of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.

Rabbi Randall Konigsburg, of Temple Sinai in Hollywood, said the Seder meal usually begins with everyone eating a hard-boiled egg dipped or sprinkled in saltwater.

``The tradition of eating a hard-boiled egg developed in the Middle Ages,`` he said. ``Every one had a different version about its significance.``

Some see it as a symbol of the Jewish people, who have become harder, not weaker through the ages. Others see it as a sign of life and rebirth.

For Easter, which celebrates the return to life of Jesus Christ, Christians adopted the egg as a symbol to represent the renewal of life. Children color the eggs as part of the Easter celebration.